Why 99? It could have also been 78 or 104, who counts when it comes to favorite cakes. And I do have many many favorite ones: the quick poppyseed cake is one of them (no matter if baked the original way or in a jar), this chocolate cake as well as this Nutella banana combo and its little sibling, the peanut butter cake. Oh, and don’t forget my strawberry or rhubarb favorites and my grandma’s sponge cake roll!
Sometimes colloquial food names can give foreigners a major headache. Fleischpflanzerl. Fleisch- What? The Bavarian term for fried meat balls or patties is definitely one of them. Or do you think the combination of the words Fleisch (=meat) and Pflanzerl (=little plant) really makes sense?
I guess it was symptomatic, that I had just submerged my fingers in a gooey meass that was supposed to become an elastic, smooth and speckled pasta dough with poppy-seeds (basic recipe: 275g all-purpose flour, 25g ground poppy-seeds, a pinch of salt, a pinch of cinnamon, 3 medium eggs, 1 tbsp sunflower oil, 1 tbsp water, if necessary), when the door bell rang. With a sigh, I hastily cleaned my fingers and answered the door: “Hello? … Hello? … Helloooho???” Silence. I despise when that happens. With another sigh, this time a little louder and a tad frustrated I returned to the kitchen and continued kneading the pasta dough.
But the door bell rang again. This time twice and seemingly with more emphasis. Don’t you just hate that? Since I couldn’t think of any outstanding orders I had made the previous days and wasn’t expecting any friends – for a moment – I simply thought about ignoring it. But I’m glad my never ceasing curiosity forced me back to the door. I wiped my fingers clean again and I guess my voice wasn’t as friendly as the first time when I answered the door: “HEEELLLLLOOO???!!” (as in ‘dude, you better get your act together’). Finally somebody answered with a calm and gentle voice: “Where do you live?” What?!? Was there somebody playing a trick on me? It took me a second to realize that the person downstairs was referring to the actual floor we live on and his next sentence made me forget all the annoyance and made my heart jump for joy: “I’m delivering a parcel from Gräfe und Unzer.” Could this be the delivery of the first bound copies of my book? It indeed was. ***sigh of utter felicity***
I spent the next hour reading and completely forgot about my semi-finished pasta dough. But don’t worry, it turned out fine anyway (cooked in vanilla milk and served with browned butter and cherry compote, thank you for asking). And I started thinking about an appropriate way to introduce the book to my dear readers. Why not with a little Q and A? Over the last year I received numerous emails from readers who where interested in the whole process of writing a cookbook, some wanted advice, others had specific questions. Same with neighbors, friends & colleagues. Listed below you’ll find some of them, and my very personal answers, garnished with visual appetizers from the book.
delicious days – the book
is now available on amazon.de:
German version – English version,
at the Gräfe & Unzer online-shop:
German or English version
or in bookstores throughout Germany…
I’m sure everyone has a favorite part when preparing a casual dinner whether it’d be for close friends or family. Certainly, having them over, spending quality time with them and an evening filled with plenty of laughter is what it’s all about. But besides? What triggers your happy buttons before enjoying their company? How about setting the table, or the cooking part itself? All very valid thoughts, but for me personally it’s clearly the decision process about what I want to serve to my guests that night. Involving a lot of skimming through cookbooks, recipe journals and pondering over my choices.
Having a checklist does come in handy: Personal likes and dislikes? Any food-allergies? What did I serve them the last time? What’s in season? These questions usually boil down the options quickly to a reasonable number. And that’s exactly how I did it when we invited our friends Uli and Roger over. No seafood, no innards, no anise were, luckily, the only constraints for the evening. Considering these criteria, I would generally now consult my bookmarks, a food magazine or cookbook for ideas. But Oliver suggested something so obvious, that I’d never would have thought about it: Why don’t you cook from your own book (= an unbound early copy)?
